The popular soccer podcast Men in Blazers recorded live on Thursday night at The Showbox in downtown Seattle in advance of the Sounders’ Championship Celebration home opener on Sunday against the New York Red Bulls (4 p.m. PT; FS1, KIRO Radio 97.3 FM, El Rey 1360AM | TICKETS).
Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei, forwards Clint Dempsey and Jordan Morris, head coach Brian Schmetzer and Seattle soccer icon Alan Hinton all made guest appearances, as well as Seattle Reign midfielder Megan Rapinoe and Seattle hip-hop artist Sir Mix-a-Lot.
You can listen to the whole podcast here, but let’s relive the night as it happened:
7:01 p.m.
Frei is the first to arrive and converses with MIB hosts Roger Bennett and Michael Davies backstage.
7:44 p.m.
Frei, Schmetzer, Morris, Dempsey and Hinton hang out backstage as the show gets set to begin. Morris’ one-year-old dog Minnie can’t sit still because she’s too excited by all the people around her.
7:47 p.m.
The show begins. Bennett and Davies warm up the crowd with #suboptimal jokes and praising Seattle’s music and soccer scene.
7:58 p.m.
Frei is the first guest of the evening. “I’m more nervous than playing CenturyLink Field,” he says backstage.
8:10 p.m.
Frei discusses The Save from MLS Cup. “I thought it was a normal save until there was a stoppage. I guess they showed the video behind me, and the whole stadium went ‘ugh.’”
8:32 p.m.
Bennett and Davies award Dempsey the Camo Blazer of Glory with a special Men in Blazers embroidered patch.
8:37 p.m.
Rapinoe gives her No. 1 reason why Seattle is a great place: “Brad Evans. He’s the most handsome man in football.”
8:58 p.m.
Hinton drinks Bennett’s beer while discussing Hinton’s playing days in England and the Pacific Northwest. “I feel very proud. Myself alongside other players who came to live here tried so hard to get [soccer in Seattle] to where it is today.”
9:19 p.m.
Schmetzer recalls the story of how Roman Torres made the game-winning penalty kick in the MLS Cup Final.
“Stef told you that Roman was taking penalty kicks a couple of days before in practice,” Schmetzer said. “And he’s terrible. He’s not very good at penalties. He’s a good soccer player, but he’s not very good at penalties.
“In my pocket I have my list of players that I’m going to ask if they want to take a penalty. I’m going, ‘Brad, are you going to take one?’ Brad says yes. ‘Lodeiro, you going to take one?’ Yes. Roman goes, ‘Coach, I take a penalty.’ I go, ‘Roman, you’re not taking a penalty.’ ‘Coach, I take a penalty.’ ‘No, you’re not taking a penalty.’ I’m going down my list.
“So I get through one through five, and I don’t want to tell who’s six or seven or eight because that’s going to jinx everybody, we’re going to win it in five. So we get through and it’s even at five. At that moment, I’m looking at my list, and I’m going, ‘Holy shit, it’s Roman.’
“So I’m frantically trying to go 2-9, 2-9 (Roman’s jersey number is 29). Cristian Roldan, who’s a smart kid, he goes, ‘Hey, Roman, you’re up.’ So in that moment, as Roman is walking to take the penalty kick, I’m calm because I didn’t know where the ball was going, Roman didn’t know where the ball was going, but the Toronto goalkeeper didn’t know where the ball was going. And that’s how we won MLS Cup.”
9:28 p.m.
Morris and Minnie go on stage.
9:40 p.m.
Sir Mix-a-Lot brings the MLS Cup trophy on stage.
9:49 pm.
Sir Mix-a-Lot raps “Baby Got Back” to end the podcast.
